[Nas]If you knew my streetsYou would know all everybody talk about is who got beefWho snitchin, who told policeWho came home, who still gone, who restin in peaceNow they killin over music money, not drugs, rap replaced itCause thugs with no brains got no patienceNew jacks I pistol whip 'em with the funky rhythm I be kickinMusician and flatten compositionA pain, I'm like Saddam HusseinStill alive lookin at his dead children's burnt remainsI burnt the game, learnt you lames a new lessonYour crew's soft man, ya'll need some new weaponsThe P's breathe Warriorz and skullies and TimmiesAround mixed, spics, niggaz and giddiesFrom my ghetto kings in deep thought we don't blinkBut don't think we wastin our timeIt's a New York State of Mind

[Alicia Keys]It's like a jungle, out hereSo much struggle, out hereAnd my dream's still unphasedGreed still the cousin of deathAlways feels like always somethin farther timeIn the Streets of New York(New York state of mind, New York State of mind)

[Alicia Keys]All I see is street homesAnd who it's holdin, our peopleOnly comforts the brainIt's like I'm going insaneThe revolution has to start, don't waste no timeIn the Streets of New York(New York state of mind, New York state of mind)C'mon

[Chorus #2 - Alicia Keys]New York, New York, New York, New York ohState of mind (New York City)New York, New York, New York, New York ohState of crime (New York City)New York, New York, New York, New York ohBig dreams (New York City)New York, New York, New York, New York ohBig schemes

[Alicia Keys]Oh, break the gameJust ain't the sameBaby loves and girls with no shameCan't get away (get away), epidemic plagueEvery hood in every stateDon't have no reasons cause relieve is hard to find

[Break - Alicia Keys]In the streets of New York (New York state of mind) - 4X(*"New York state of mind" is also repeated in background*)

[Rakim]I'm from the home of a million legends and trend settinA lot of footsteps to follow, I've been steppinMind stressin tryin to find a record crime shreddinTime precious, I ain't have rest since nine elevenI live fast, hustle like today is my lastI get cash, the struggle's like a day on the Ave.Crack bein raw, gats squeezin offManhattan squeezin off, from cats who tease with warThe eve of the Apocalypse, evil keep movin politicsEvery block is at risk, the metropolitan metropolisThe opposite of Liza Minelli and Frank SinatraAlicia Keys, Nas and Ra the gangsta's operaSo New York City walk with me, talk grittyIt's up to us New York it's our cityHere the man come with the anthem, hands upIt's time the thrill is back New York, let's stand up